What to do when your dog drinks Salt Water

You’re here because as much as you tried to persuade them otherwise, your dog drank more salt water than they should. Now you’re either experiencing the wrath of Poseidon, or trying to anticipate it, but either way you’ve come across a page full of helpful tips!

Before you read the rest of this, get out the plastic furniture covers cause it’s about to get messy.

When any dog, or other mammal for that matter, drinks salt water they become dehydrated by all the extra sodium now in their system. This throws their electrolytes out of wack and in most cases causing vomiting and diarrhea. In our experiences with Finlay (our beagle puppy), even 10 seconds of sea-water-slurping can result in a whole day of disgusting. He vomits without any heaving, it just comes up suddenly, and has lots of gas followed by fairly runny stool (sorry if that was TMI, but you’re most likely about to experience it first hand).

For most dogs this is a 24-hour or less ailment, but it can be fairly serious and sometimes fatal so use your best judgment– if your dog looks like he’s on death’s door don’t be a fool, take them to the vet.

In the mean time, while you’re trying to determine if this is a life or death situation, here’s a few things you can do to help your sea-sick furry-friend pass the time.

–We are NOT vets and the information below is just a compiling of things we’ve gathered around the internet and tested on our dog. Once again, we are not vets and you should use your judgment/consult your vet on all of the suggestions listed below–

#1 Keep them Hydrated

I know, this is more fuel for them to fire at you, but your dog needs water, especially if he’s expelling food and/or liquid from his body. Give your dog small amounts of water every 1/2 hour, even if it means you’ll be cleaning it up, and monitor how long it takes/ how much of it is being vomited. Keeping him hydrated is #1 because if you don’t he can get much sicker very quickly.

If he’s vomited but is able to keep water down for 2 hours, he can then have apple juice diluted 50:50 with water, or water from a can of tuna diluted 1 part tuna water to 10 parts plain water. Again, give the fluids in small, frequent, amounts.

#2 Don’t get Mad

If your dog is throwing up it’s because he’s not feeling well, so try your best to keep calm. You can set them up for success by keeping them off the carpets, on an easy to wipe down surface. We don’t suggest putting them outside alone, if your dog is really sick you probably need to monitor him, plus he’ll feel like he’s done something wrong if you exclude him from the pack.

#3 Quarantine

Just in case he’s vomiting from something other than sea water, you may want to take your other, well-feeling pets somewhere else. Your dog may try to eat its own vomit and as we all know it’s easier to keep one dog from eating something, than 3. You’re also going to want your dog to rest, and without their mates around you may have a better chance of this happening.

#4 Make them a comfortable, washable place to lie down

I recommend bunching up a sheet or old towel on an easy to clean floor surface. This way if they continue to get sick you can just toss it in the wash, mop down the floor, and press on.

#5 WITHHOLD FOOD until it has been 24 hours since they last vomited.

This gives the intestines a chance to rest and heal. After 24 hours without vomiting, you can start your dog back on a bland diet. Many vets online recommend a mixture of 75% cooked white rice, and 25% low fat protein. For the protein you could use extra lean ground beef, boiled with the fat scooped off, or chicken breast boiled with fat scooped off or even scrambled egg cooked without fat in the microwave. Feed small frequent meals, avoid anything salty. Day 3 post incident, if there is still no vomiting, your dog can go back to normal dog food.

We also saw a lot of people saying you could give your dogs a few different over-the-counter meds, but we’re not into that so you’ll have to find that information on your own.

Our dog has never gone to the vet after drinking saltwater, but there are a lot of really sad stories about owners who thought their dogs were fine and their animals ended up dying (because of salt water, or because something else they ate). Saline saturation causes swelling which can lead to all kinds of complications. We don’t want to scare you, but we also don’t want to assure you that everything will be fine. Use your judgement and sorry about all the sick you’ll be cleaning up!

66 thoughts on “What to do when your dog drinks Salt Water”

Many good tips, and I would add that Coconut water is an excellent rehydrator! I add it to the drinking water before and after the beach, and on rare occasion one of the pups sucked in too much salt water, I just give him/her straight Coconut water for the few hours after. “Hydrant” is a perfect way to describe the aftermath!

Thank you so much for this post! We are at this moment caring for our lil dog who drank too much ocean water while playing. She’s vomited, drank lots of water, vomited, and now resting. We’re watching her closely, and hopefully that was all the sicky she’ll be tonight. Thanks for the suggestions!

It was a first for me yesterday. My dog drank seawater. It came out of her behind like a hydrant! She was also sick in the car, mainly liquids. I felt so sorry for her knowing what had done it. She is fine today, thank goodness, although she dragged her bottom once. Maybe the result of the hydrant and a sore bum! Will wait and see.

We took our 10 month black lab to the beach today :0/ o my days I have never seen anything like it ! Ian you’ve hit the nail on the head, describing the bottom end experience as a hydrant , poor pup it was awful😦 then when she vomitted , well I was stunned !!
Thank you so much for your info sharing and tips Kris , we now know what to do🙂

Hey Em!
We’ve never experienced the hydrant butt, but it sounds pretty shocking to observe (and most likely worse to experience as the dog). Glad to know our tips are going to good use. Hang in there, your pup should be feeling gradually better as the day continues🙂

This happened to our dog today. I still don’t know what to do. She vomited 2-3 times but she seem better, she’s resting now and she drank some water and did not vomit. I don’t know if we should take her to the ER.

Use your best judgement. Finlay threw up I think 3-4 times throughout the 1st day. It’s a good sign your dog is now not throwing up though– it means she’s getting some of the hydration instead of just purging it.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!

lol yup just also took my boy to the beach for the 1st time. He chased the waves and now has an ocean spewing out of his but. All over my other dog too ewwww. We are now bathed and laying in a comfy blanket with a bucket of water. Going to be a long night I’m sure.

She seems better now. 10 hrs w/o vomiting and actually ate a bit of rice and lean beef because she was really hungry. I was so scared something could happen to her, hopefully she will continue to feel better.
Thanks!!

Thank you so much for putting this blog online. You have just saved our family vacation with our Portuguese Water Dog, Zoey. She had a wonderful morning on the beach, playing a game of fetch in the surf. Big mistake. We didn’t make it back to the condo before the symptoms of Poseidon’s wrath came on. Being from the Northern Midwest, we really had know idea that just playing fetch would be be enough salt water to hurt her.

Fortunately, I went online and found your blog. Your description of symptoms were right on, in our case. And fortunately your advice on taking care of Zoey was also right on the mark. After the first onset of symptoms, she was going crazy begging for water. But, thanks to you, I only gave her small amounts of water every half hour. It’s been 12 hours, without major symptoms, so we let her eat some food. She seems back to normal. But heeding your warning, we’ll continue to monitor her behavior. (and won’t hesitate to take her to the vet, should she change, dramatically).

yep, Hydrant Butt is an accurate description. I live in St.Lucia, an island in the West Indies and today, my mixed bread, 1yr old baby called mojo went chasing the waves and apparently loved it. within an hour the liquid started spraying everywhere. No vomiting, only diarrhea. i was so worried we came right back home. gave him water and his food. only now seeing your page. wish i had seen this earlier today. he is keeping the food down, but the liquid diarrhea is still going on but not so hydrant like. apologies for the description, but it was a sight to see. he did not continue in the car, but started again when he got home. Such a pooper trooper. (could not help myself). lol
.

Going through this right now with my chocolate lab unfortunately for me we were on a kayak not so much fun😦 … He has had the hydrant before but never this extrem and never with throwing up. Right now he seems to be holding things down. Thanks for the post I thought he ate something on the island but no it’s just to much salt water🙂

Took our pit/lab to the beach and had a great time but the biting and chasing the waves all of sudden the trip turned into a nightmare for him and us, and it happened before we could leave the beach. Water running out of his backside like a pressure washer and eventually just running uncontrollably like a water spout. Before we could get to the truck he vomited all he had eaten up. I rode in the back of the truck with him water still running and we made it home .I give him a bath and put him on his cable run an some fresh water,( which he was ready to drink) the water stopped running out of his back side and he had a good night. Hungry this morning guess he’s fine. I have lived here all my life and this was the first for me.

We had the same experience with our Shar pei, we went to the beach, and he as normal went for a swim with my hubby, within minutes of coming out of the sea he was experiencing the hydrant from the bottom end, lucky no sickness, he would not take any fresh water from us at the beach but drank small amounts when we got home. He was back to normal in 24 hours.

Its nice to know we are not alone. Our chocolate lab young girl had her first visit to the beach and identical symptoms, all quite embarrassing in front of the posh harbour flats! Second visit resulting in the same, she just goes into the sea for a drink! I think no more sea swimming for Jessie, which is a shame as it was lovely watching her enjoy herself.

Thank you so much for the advice. Yesterday, we took our 85 pound Golden for the first time to the beach and he had a blast playing in the shallow tidal pools on the beach. He romped and played fetch for an hour and then before we knew it he started having diarrhea in the tidal pool. Thank goodness it is off season and the beach was fairly deserted. Within 15 minutes he had effortless projectile vomiting , but at the same time was fiercely thirsty. I let him drink fresh water although he threw up faily soon after. Eventually he stopped drinking water and became less distressed. As I began to investigate online whether the sea water was the culprit, I came across this site and it was a life saver! Thank you much. Our big guy is much better today, and I am hoping that by tomorrow all systems will be back to normal. We have learned our lesson.

Thanks so much for this post! We have just arrived home from our first beach visit with our 8month old Leonberger boy. Ted, had a fab time frolicking in the water and running around for the hour we were there. As we were packing up, a massive eruption from his rear… like nothing I had ever seen! Oh dear!! Quickly put him in the car and drove home. Gave him lots of water, he did vomit once, only a small frothy amount so far. Have rung the emergency vet before reading this post and she said it sounds like to much salty water and keep an eye on him. Will try and dter him in the future.:)

The first time Gucci got “beach diarrhea”(BD) I did not know what was wrong. All of the sudden, she started projectile BM and constantly going. I could not pick up the BM as in its original form. I had to add sand to the BM (dog kitty litter) so I could bag them. I did not want other animals or humans on the beach to step or ingest the “BDBM”. Every time I sand her BM she would go again. I ended up putting my shirt on her bum until we got inside the house. I showered her and put a doggy diaper on. I called my vet. He told me she had “BD”. He said it would be fine to give her some Pedialyte with H20 to balance her electrolytes. Dogs can over heat.
FYI-
A common misconception is that in order for a dog to develop beach diarrhea (BD) it must drink salt water. It is often forgotten that dogs may ingest repeatedly small amounts of salted water by grasping that salt water drenched ball or by simply getting splashed by the waves when the dog’s mouth is open. Also, before leaving the beach or as soon as possible, shower or rinse your dog off due to the sand being in the fur. When they lick/clean themselves they ingest the salty sand which also can have sea lice.

So happy I found this blog. Loads of great advice. We went they very similar yesterday with our 16 month old golden retriever. He has wen going to the beach since he was 3 months old but always on the lead and yesterday was his first time of the lead and we are guessing the sea just looked like a giant water bowl as he happily swam about with his mouth wide open. I had an idea of what was coming and I’m so thankful he waited all through his bath, the drive home, called into the shops and once home he franks heaps, had a pee and then threw up twice. Drank more then was sick again he continued to have water on his own and we tried to keep it to a minimum. He threw up 2 more times with each one getting less… We didn’t give him food til late that night and only cos he was really asking for it so we have him a 1/4 of what he normally has.. He wasn’t sick again after those 5 times, his stool has been fine and after loads of sleep he seemed ore like himself but then today he has been real sleepy then normal then real sleepy and then normal. I’m
Hoping by tomorrow he will be more like his usual self otherwise I’ll be taking him to the vet…. Thankful for all the comments to read through… Jett is our first dog and it’s scary and horrible when he is sick…

We took our 9mth old sharpei x ridgeback for her daily swim, she has never drank the water but today with her woodtoy in her mouth inhaled under water. She vomited straight away and the poop came next. Being a Sunday afternoon there is no vet open in our location and am getting worried. She won’t drink and she’s very lethargic. If there’s anyone with something I can try before the vet opens in the morning please reply, its just not her being quiet.
Thanks

Thank you for all this information! This happened with my little Daschund this afternoon, I didn’t realise he had taken in so much water as he was playing how he usually does at the beach, and has never had any side effects before. He was sick from both ends (the hydrant definitely describes it well), which continued on and off over an hour. I sat with him for about an hour after we got home and by then he seemed to be his usual playful self again. He had water and a bone (which didn’t have much meat on it, and I gave it to him before finding all of this information on this site!). I’ll keep an eye on him through the night though just to be sure.
He was dragging his bottom on the ground a few times (I saw that one other person commented that their dog did this too), would this just be because he is uncomfortable?? I also noticed that he was standing as though he was peeing but there was nothing coming out, would this just be because he is dehydrated or is this a sign of something more serious??
Thanks in advance

Thank you so much for these tips! We took our Golden Retriever yesterday to the beach and he spent 2 hours of having fun but drank a LOT of sea water. He started vomiting right after and diarrhea followed. Poor thing, we took him back home and he vomited at least 3 more times. He was so dehydrated that he drank like 3 bowls of water the rest of the night. We took him out every 30 minutes just to make sure he “cleaned” his system. This morning he was so hungry he ate his normal food, but still has diarrhea. No vomiting at least, so it looks like he’s getting better, but his energy levels are zero. Lots of rest for my Shaggy today! If tomorrow diarrhea continues, we’ll take him to the vet.

Thank you for your information. My Labrador did in fact have to go to the vet and was on a drip for the de-hydration caused from drinking sea water. I’m not sure if I would have thought of going to vet so early had I not read your information. Thanks again.

My dog swam for the first time yesterday after seeming to not like water till now took him again today and he swam for ages he loves it but once he got out he puked then fired out the other end like a cannon almost covering a posh suit wearing gentlemans expensive looking shoes he’s drank plenty of water I only came across this article after he chugged god knows how much water but it’s been 3 hours since the incident and he’s his usually annoyingly energetic self should I still hold the feed till Tomorow? (He won’t be best pleased lol)

Hi Jake, sorry for the late response. I think in most situations if they seem normal and they are drinking water and using the bathroom like it’s a normal day… you’re fine to try food.

There is obviously a sliding scale of how bad this can be, some dogs are unaffected (our dogs built up a tolerance and drink salt water all the time, the little punks) and some dogs can’t even take a slurp before they’re barfing everywhere. Sounds like your dog pushed it though his system and carried on.
🙂 Thanks for the comment, I think it will help people in the future who read this article and have had a similar experience.

Quick question. My dog has the symptoms of the water projectile out of her bottom but no vomiting. When we got home she scarfed down a half a bowl of kibbles. Shes 85 lbs and normally eats 1 1/2 bowls of dry kibbles per day. I walked her after to see if she’d pass anything. A littl bit of liquid came ou but not nearly the amount she dumped earlier in the beach parking lot. Do I have anything major to worry about? I noticed alot of the comments state they waited to feed their dogs. Im a little worried now. Thank you for this blog. It’s definitely very helpful and reliving!

As I told him, it’s a sliding scale of how bad this can be. My dogs are a little ridiculous and will eat even if they are sick. If your dog barfed up the food then I would go back to square one and withhold food… but if they ate and they’re fine you should just plan an easy evening to supervise, just in case your pup starts feeling ill again.

This was really helpful! My Nugget, an English bulldog went to the beach today for the first time since I rescued him. He bit at the waves and then threw up and had diarrhea. We left after that and he got a bath, and water. He hasn’t vomitted anymore, but he did eat his dinner (didn’t know I should withhold) and then we went on a walk and he had diarrhea again, but was more solid. He’s had water and is being normal, but he’s pretty lethargic as it is (being a bulldog) so it’s hard to tell what’s causing that part lol. I’ll be sleeping beside his crate tonight just in case😦

We took our two boarder collies swimming in salt water and they both got sick. We thought that the youngest one peeped on the floor but, it was just pure water coming from her bum. She slept with a towel under her bum and we kept checking her durning the night. It was a scarey experience for us and never again will we take them swimming in salt water. Thank god it didn’t turn out to be fatal for our girls. It’s a lesson that we have learned.

Excellent advice, perfect description of symptoms and accurate discussion of 1. cause 2. duration and 3. treatment. We live in Carmel, CA and do tennis ball into big waves…and 3 days in a row got bigtime to our 2yr Chocolate Lab. Hypernatremia (high sodium blood stream) causes the lethargy which is pretty frightening with everything else going on. The 1/3 rice/beef wit 2/3 water in small amounts 24-36 hours after last vomiting is good, as the sick dog needs calories, fluids, potassium and protein. Go slow on starting regular food, just as this site so beautifully suggests.
I think the 50 tennis-ball throws into the surf are over….a shame, as we both loved it but it’s not worth it. Dr. John Baldwin, Carmel CA (human heart surgeon!)

Okay, so my lab is in PHOENIX (and no, I don’t have “..ocean front property in Ari zo naa..” (an old song) … My question is, can this happen from too much fresh water? Ive had em puke up water, but not shoot it out their bums!
I think he got too hot playing yesterday and drank too much water? All the symptoms I woke up to are the same as listed here. He was fine at dinner time (voracious), had several hours evening playtime, then into his crate. I don’t think he got sick til just before I went out, cuz he hadn’t walked all over in the mess – and the cage pan was 3/4 full! An hour after I finished cleaning up, I saw him projectile diarreah twice. I also cleaned up several fresh puddles of water vomit after I cleaned the kennel. he is now quite subdued and water leaking from his bum. I only gave him a dollop of yogurt for breakfast. If he gets any worse, I will take him to the vet-but of course I would rather not head off to ER. I just need some hand holding! lol thanks for your oh-so-timely blog!

There is a common denominator here – Labradors!! We have had 4 Labs and this has only happened with one we have now! Describing motions (both ends) like a hydrant is perfect. Our dog does it every time and recovers the day after. Strange. Reassuring to know it’s not just our boy!! Thanks for this.

Thank you for this! I have been up for the past hour cleaning up vomit and diarrhea! Poor little pup, first time at the beach and he enjoyed to much salt water! We are going to try and rest now for a bit but we are sleeping very close to the outside door!

I feel everyone’s pain! We are in Florida and I took our 6 year old Springer Spaniel to the beach. She had a blast chasing her ball in the sand and then ingested seawater and sand. I have been up with her all night cleaning up vomit. I feel so sorry for her. She looks so embarrassed and pitiful. She is not drinking or eating. She did have it going on at both ends too. I notice when she vomits there is a lot of sand. I guess I should be thankful it is coming back up! Hoping all your dogs are feeling better. Hope mine gets better soon.

I recently went to my friends wedding & wore insane heels. My boyfriend ran me warm water with Epsom salt to soak my feet. We have 6 month old puppy. And this morning she threw up her breakfast- not even digested. And then again twice on the floor, finally with a projectile vomit on our bed. I am not sure if she drank it, or not. But this helped me. She is in her crate with water. I’m watching her closely.

We took our 10 month ridge\lab cross to beach new years day was ok ,following day he was off his food and water, day three through up and runny pooh and rested all day managed to give him treats soaked in water he refused to drink day 4 he was off food but lively all morning then laid down rest of day,5 days after he is picking at food and drinking a little but perky and active any thoughts ,thank you

My 7month old pup is just back from the beach today and has had diarrhoea but mostly vomiting. He appears to have a sore tummy, uncomfortable lying down or sitting. Am I best just keeping an eye on him tonight and seeing how he is in the morning?
Any advice would be appreciated!

THANK you so much for this blog. I was so worried. Took my baby Lily Bell to the beach she came home and even drink salt water chlorinated pool water later that day even though we gave her fresh water. Pooped on the rug threw up a couple of times got up in the morning threw up again. We gave her some chicken and a bit of pasta and I’m on the way to the store to get some rice and possibly Pedialyte. Hopefully she will be back to her old self later on today or we will go to the vet. Thanks for all of the information is for your blog. it was really scary… I wasn’t sure if she maybe got bacteria from a stick she picked up from the beach, or what. Knowing that its most likely salt water makes me feel a bit better, even though I know it can be serious. I will keep an eye on her and take her to the vet if she does not improve after eating this morning.

Thanks for this. Just had my Chesapeake Bay Retriever out playing fetch and in the process of retrieving he would bite the waves. He is currently drinking fluids and going to the bathroom. Lots of hydrant butt and vomiting every now and then. I mixed his water bowl 50/50 with water and Gatorade to help restore his electrolytes and such and he immediately started feeling better.

I am so glad this is the first link I stumbled upon… Had a great day at the beach today but before making it to the car…. Some hydrant action happened. Then he vomited in the car twice! Once we made it home, he vomited two more times and drank lots of water… But then it was like he couldn’t hold in his pee, he wouldn’t even make it to the door, he would just pee (I’m talking ponds here, not puddles…) Every 10-15 minutes. Sometimes I’d clean up one mess then he’d already be peeing again! Anyway, he is just resting now. His dish is full of water but he isn’t drinking too much now. Is that a sign of hydration? Hope so..

Thank you for posting this, I actually had no idea salt water was this harmful to dogs!😦

Thank you; I’m so glad to have found you! My 8 year old pudgy, puggle has spent a couple of hours today playing on the beach, and wanting to constantly be running into the water to play and to DRINK (mainly), no matter how hard I tried to distract him from drinking the sea water. Arriving back to our hotel room, he was extremely thirsty, gobbled up his bowl of food tonight, and ate our other dog’s bowl of food before she could arrive to her bowl. Now he lays by our bed, heavy breathing, and lethargic. We are in a hotel room, doggy friendly (though I’m afraid maybe not so doggy friendly if Charlie performs in a manner similar to what the other bloggers have described the reactions by their dogs), and I’m just waiting with bag and towel in hand to see if/when my Charlie is going to spew and squirt all over this hotel room tonight. Five hours since he drank up the ocean, all’s quiet and dry, so far. Maybe Charlie’s one of the statistics of dogs not affected by sea water (hoping)…can I go to bed now?

This happened to my dog earlier today … the fire-hydrant butt. She had a great time at the beach retrieving her ball for about an hour. Wasn’t purposely drinking the sea water but must have swallowed a fair bit. When we got home, she ran to her water bowl and drank the whole thing, which she never does. A few minutes later she is in the yard and the fire-hydrant thing happened just for a half minute. I was wondering if I had actually seen what I thought I saw. We go in the house and I am telling hubby about it and he says “Like that?” I look at the dog and water is gushing out of her. All over the kitchen. But is pretty much just water, mostly. I think the whole bowl she had drank ended up coming out. She is supposed to be going in for her spay operation tomorrow morning, so I called the vet and they said it was probably the ocean water and to just watch her and report our findings tomorrow morning. They said being a larger dog (lab) she will probably be okay. Just monitor her energy and if there is any more diarrhea or vomiting to keep a close watch. She has had her dinner and a couple dog cookies and a bit of water and seems okay. Fingers crossed!
I want to say thank you for this page here and everyone’s comments too. It does make you feel better to know it is not just my dog! And that sea water is the culprit.